Nicole Frank

Nicole Frank began serving as Life Sciences Department Chair in 2013. She has been an instructor for Biology at CWI since 2010, specializing in General Biology, Cell Biology and Microbiology. In 2012, she was honored with the Faculty of the Year Award. Prior to coming to CWI, Nicole worked as an Associate Research Scientist for Novartis Animal Health, where she designed and developed the killed virus vaccine for the Bovine Respiratory Complex. In Idaho, she has worked as a Senior Microbiologist at the Idaho Bureau of Laboratories, where she was responsible for environmental microbiological testing, as well as serological and virology testing. Most recently she worked for St. Luke's Health System as a Research Biologist in their cardiopharmacology laboratory.

Nicole earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology from the University of Idaho. After graduation, she was hired as an Associate Research Scientists for Novartis Animal Health. While at Novartis, she earned her Master of Science in Biology with an emphasis in Veterinary Microbiology from South Dakota State University. Her master's thesis was entitled "A Study of the Effect of Temperature on the Conservation of the Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus Antigen During Viral Inactivation". Currently she is pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacology from Idaho State University-Meridian where her current project focus is the cardiotoxicity of anthracyclines and their analogs.

In her free time, Nicole enjoys making stained glass art, baking and spending time with her dogs and husband.

Blogs by Nicole Frank

Recently, Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver ran a special segment on the nature of scientific research and how it is reported in the media. Oliver discusses the importance of not just reading the headlines of a science story, or even the article/press release, but actually looking at the...

College of Western Idaho’s (CWI) Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics programs are excited to the latest installment of its video blog series, Science is a Verb. CWI faculty share some of their favorite experiments, as well as tips and tricks for bringing science to life. In...

“Take two aspirin and call me in the morning” is saying that has been around for as long as we know, but let’s pause for a moment and consider what it would mean if we didn’t have access to drugs such as aspirin. Aspirin is used to treat pain, fever, inflammation,...

Yesterday, the internet exploded (as it does regularly) over an infographic about what a can of coke does to the human body after consumption. The original post was created by the website www.therenegadepharmacist.com. Unsurprisingly, fact...

It’s summer and if there ever was a season for science in Idaho, it’s summer! Most people think that science is only something that can be accomplished in the laboratory or under carefully guided field exercises. Did you know there are many different opportunities to participate in...

There are many idealized versions of what scientific research looks like. It usually involves clean cut methods that work on the first try, and provide unquestionable data. This romanticized version of laboratory work is rarely realized. I am a fourth year Ph.D. student at Idaho State...